“You can basically see through it — you can’t hide in it,” says Janet Kelley, communications director for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the organization funding part of the new public-private twin buildings on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

Professional-grade audio-visual equipment, a plethora of screening rooms and theaters, and an earthquake-resilient design — all set against the backdrop of old Hollywood — are just a few of the reasons students and faculty at the School of Cinematic Arts are embracing the future, and the past, at the University of Southern California.

Athletic and recreational facilities play an important role in the development of students at all levels of education. Whether they are used for academic programs, extracurricular activities or competitive spaces, gymnasiums and playing fields offer an alternative to indoor curricula and a chance for students to build skills outside the classroom.

Ted Howard remembers the good old days and the not so good old days at Seattle’s Garfield High School.&nbsp; Since opening its doors in 1923, it has always been an ethnic melting pot unlike any other in the city — a place where students learned to accept and respect individual differences. At the height of the civil rights movement, it was the only Seattle venue where Martin Luther King, Jr. chose to speak.

In the pursuit of knowledge, today’s students sometimes want to put their feet up and lounge with a café latte, while they express fresh epiphanies on a blog or live Internet chat as robotic arms pass research materials to them.

The school construction process is full of potential pitfalls, but projects become exponentially more complex when an American architectural firm works in a country that is thousands of miles away, where the language, culture and construction protocols are different.